King Alexander dethroned as sex scandal follows him to Oregon

Oregon State University has accepted the resignation of F. King Alexander after the president, known for his outspoken advocacy of public education, was judged to have a history of overlooking sexual misconduct complaints.

Dr Alexander, just nine months into the job at OSU, was condemned by OSU faculty and students after a report from Louisiana State University, which he previously led, described a long-standing tolerance of sexual misbehaviour in LSU’s storied sports operations.

Rani Borkar, a Microsoft vice-president who serves as chair of the OSU board of trustees, said she and other trustees had held out hope after the LSU disclosures that Dr Alexander could still regain trust on the OSU campus.

But, Ms Borkar said, “after listening to and hearing important input from diverse members of our community and reflecting on our own values and experiences, we now know that rebuilding trust is no longer possible”.

The complaints stem from the behaviour of Les Miles, a former coach of LSU’s renowned football team. Mr Miles led LSU to a national championship in 2012, an achievement generally worth tens of millions of dollars in revenue for an institution. Yet an investigative report commissioned by LSU also depicted Mr Miles as hiring women based on their body type and appearance, and making unwanted sexual advances.

Dr Alexander was told of such problems shortly after he arrived at LSU in 2013, but he has said that he chose to keep Mr Miles on the advice of lawyers after LSU’s governing board decided against firing the coach.

During his time at LSU, Dr Alexander sometimes acknowledged the political tension he faced from being a nationally known advocate for public funding aimed at helping low-income and minority students, while working in a state that regularly ranks among the worst for financing higher education.

He admitted particular frustration with the economic and political demands associated with the LSU community’s infatuation with sports. That unease has now blown into the open with LSU’s renewed interest in examining the history of Mr Miles since Dr Alexander’s departure from Baton Rouge. In explaining his actions at LSU to the OSU trustees, Dr Alexander identified the LSU board as a major force in emphasising the importance of sport over scholarship.

Robert Dampf, a lawyer who serves as chair of LSU’s governing board of supervisors, shot back in a letter to OSU, calling such comments “arrogant and condescending”.

“When sharing his opinion that Louisiana has a different moral standard than Oregon, he omits the fact that he enthusiastically counted himself as one of us for almost seven years,” Mr Dampf wrote.

Mr Dampf also publicly challenged Dr Alexander over the question of whether the former president was willing to be interviewed for LSU’s investigation.

Under the terms approved by OSU, Dr Alexander’s resignation takes effect on 1 April and gives him a settlement of $600,000 (£437,000), equal to a year of additional salary.

Mr Miles moved on to become head football coach at the University of Kansas, which has dismissed both him and the university’s athletics director, Jeff Long, in recent days in the aftermath of the LSU findings.

LSU has not fired any of its own staff over the university’s handling of Mr Miles, though it did briefly suspend two administrators in its athletics department.

paul.basken@timeshighereducation.com